I know the OME rears are quite a bit larger than the stock - I have those sitting here already - in fact - when I first looked at them, I had doubts as to if they would clear the axle, but, a close look says they probably will.

As far the front goes - I was looking at a build thread on an Australian forum yesterday and noticed that they have the same plastic sleeves and they reused them with the OME struts - still given the uncertainty, the low price of the boots and the fact that finding a suitable boot here would likely be challenging - the easiest way is to get a pair from Low Range Off Road along with the struts - I can ask Sean to confirm that they fit.

Good thought. 

The front bolts securing the A-arms will be seized in the bushing sleeve and unless someone knows some magic they require cutting out to remove/replace the A-arm.  I coated the new A arm bolts and the sleeves with anti-seize compound so should I have to dis-assemble the front end in the future no bolt cutting should be required.  All the final tightening of the suspension parts (A-arms, sway bar, etc) should be performed with the vehicle weight resting on the ground.

Actually, i've read about this problem removing the A arm bolts before on here...so when i replaced my a arms a couple months ago i sprayed penetrating oil on them every day for 4 days prior to removing them (and drove it every day) .  They came out easily with the impact   However i tightened them to the correct torque setting while the truck was on jackstands not with its full weight on the ground as you mentioned above...hmmm no problems yet but maybe i should loosen them and re-tigthen them? Any idea what the reasoning is for this?

However i tightened them to the correct torque setting while the truck was on jackstands not with its full weight on the ground as you mentioned above...hmmm no problems yet but maybe i should loosen them and re-tigthen them? Any idea what the reasoning is for this?

Most rubber suspension bushes used in this type of suspension are bonded to inner & outer sleeves - the outer sleeve is a press fit in the arm or link and the inner sleeve is a sliding fit on the bolt (or pin) but will have serrated (shallow teeth) edges so tha twhen they are tightened in place, the inner sleeve is not free to pivot.

When the weight of the vehicle is off the wheels the suspension will be at full droop, so if you tighten the bolts at this point, the rubber will be twisted when the vehicles is lowered rather than at a rest position - and you twist further as the arm or link pivots upwards to follow a bump.

Theoretically you could shorten the life of the bushing by tightening at full droop and I believe it's worth the extra effort to loosen & retighten - even though it may mean (as in my case) having to take the vehicle off the jackstands and then drive it onto ramps  so that there is space to swing a wrench with the weight of the vehicle on the wheels.

Agreed!  It is the bushing/s that should be flexing and absorbing the impacts.  The bolts are simply there to hold them in place so they can do their job.  Same with the sway bar bushings.

I've put about 400 miles on the Lock Right now and it is still a pleasant driver.  I had the thought a manual transmission may well be more forgiving when driving on hard ball than an auto tranny might be simply because I can push in the clutch on most turns and take the torque completely off the Lock Right allowing it to ratchet freely during turns.  I'm sure the longer wheel base helps with the manners as well.

As far the front goes - I was looking at a build thread on an Australian forum yesterday and noticed that they have the same plastic sleeves and they reused them with the OME struts - still given the uncertainty, the low price of the boots and the fact that finding a suitable boot here would likely be challenging - the easiest way is to get a pair from Low Range Off Road along with the struts - I can ask Sean to confirm that they fit.

I can confirm that the stock plastic strut cover WILL fit over the OME struts - mine slipped off my old ones and onto the OME struts without a hitch.

That's good to know.  If I hadn't trashed one of mine a few years ago I'd still be using them.

Very nice right up and nice work!! For the record, my spacers are made from cast polyurethane resin. It is not your normal suspension bushing urethane. It is designed for be wear resistant and not just a "bushing". It is extremely tough and EXPENSIVE!! I am glad they have held up for you.

Thanks, Jeff.

I finally replaced the stock hub bolts with studs and stainless nylock nuts.  These are "more better'.

Slightly off subject, but I did mention him earlier in this post, I got a pic of Norm Day, his station, and his killer little '55 Chevy that he has owned since the late '50s.  He bought this car with like 14K miles on it and has owned, modified and raced it into the late '60s before he switched to fuelers and then moved on to funny car racing working with Don Garlett, Tommy Ivo and others.  There is literally NO other '55 in the world built like this little jewel nor certainly with the history this car has.

That hood scoop is truly a work of art.

Norm designed that air scoop and air filter housing to take air in... and the excess exits through the back of that scoop.  This guy was ahead of his time and WAY ahead of most performance manufacturers of the time as well.

Well I've logged right at 2500 miles on Buster with the Lock Right installed in the rear... and I am still very satisfied with the way he handles and drives.  We received our first snow two nights ago (2") and I drove about 40 miles of hard ball in it.  It was a wet, heavy slushy snow but I experienced no unexpected handling.  In fact in a couple of turns I nailed it a little to try to get it side ways... but it continued to track along my turn.  Not the 10" of snow and ice I will soon encounter, but it gave me a flavor of what to expect.  The torquing during shifting still requires my attention.  It definitely tugs when the rear end begins pulling both tires. 

I finally got around to taking Buster to a Meineke to have the alignment (camber) checked after installing the OME suspension (struts).  They had an alignment special on for $29.95 so I decided to take advantage of it.  I had delayed having the alignment checked for well over 3K simply because after I allowed the suspension to settle after the spring and strut installation... it appeared to be sitting pretty damned close.  Yeah, I know you can't "eye-ball" camber adjustment... but I did know it was damn close.  The BFGs I had on the front had miles on them and the right front had been eaten up from my right front strut blowing while I was in Ohio and then logging several hundred miles on it before I got home so I wasn't too worried about trashing the tires.  I kept periodically observing the wear on the tread after installing the OME suspension after a few hours of driving and they appeared to be wearing well.

Long story short, there was a discussion here on the forum regarding OME struts and I had recalled reading (somewhere) that OME factored in the additional 1.5" of travel on the struts in their design.  Once on the alignment equipment at Meinekes, my driver side was 1.1 and the passenger side was 1.0, which simply means my driver side was just slightly out of 'green' so I didn't worry about it.  They did adjust my toe-in which was off a little.  OME struts and their suspension: I give them two thumbs up.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to mention that after I swapped my 4.62 gears for the 4.88 gear set recently I cruised down to Nashville, TN (340 miles each way) driving I-65 at about 70MPH on the way down and found I obtained 24MPG going down with about 400 pounds of gear in the back and my wife on board.  Coming back I drove 80+MPH (a lot) and my milage went down to 20+MPG.  The large difference in my MPG I attribute to either the additional 10+MPH average I cruised coming home OR... that gravity was working with me driving south and against me driving back up north.  I'm still a bit confused on this point.  At any rate, the swap up to the 4.88 gear set was well worth it for the added mechanical advantage obtained to pull the slightly taller and heavier tires.